ISO 3166-2 is part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and defines codes for identifying the principal subdivisions (e.g., provinces or states) of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1. The official name of the standard is Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 2: Country subdivision code. It was first published in 1998.
The purpose of ISO 3166-2 is to establish an international standard of short and unique alphanumeric codes to represent the relevant administrative divisions and dependent territories of all countries in a more convenient and less ambiguous form than their full names. Each complete ISO 3166-2 code consists of two parts, separated by a hyphen: [1]
Each complete ISO 3166-2 code can then be used to uniquely identify a country subdivision in a global context.
As of 29 November 2022 [update] there are 5,043 codes defined in ISO 3166-2. For some countries, codes are defined for more than one level of subdivisions.
The following table can be used to access the current ISO 3166-2 codes of each country, and comprises three columns: [2]
For the following countries, a number of their subdivisions in ISO 3166-2, most of them dependent territories, are also officially assigned their own country codes in ISO 3166-1: [2]
| Entry | Country name | Subdivisions included in ISO 3166-1 (alpha-2 code) |
|---|---|---|
| CN | China | CN-TW Taiwan ( TW ) [note 1] CN-HK Hong Kong ( HK ) CN-MO Macao ( MO ) |
| FI | Finland | FI-01 Åland ( AX ) |
| FR | France | FR-BL Saint Barthélemy ( BL ) FR-GF French Guiana ( GF ) FR-GP Guadeloupe ( GP ) FR-MF Saint Martin ( MF ) FR-MQ Martinique ( MQ ) FR-NC New Caledonia ( NC ) FR-PF French Polynesia ( PF ) FR-PM Saint Pierre and Miquelon ( PM ) FR-RE Réunion ( RE ) FR-TF French Southern Territories ( TF ) FR-WF Wallis and Futuna ( WF ) FR-YT Mayotte ( YT ) |
| NL | Netherlands | NL-AW Aruba ( AW ) NL-BQ1 Bonaire ( BQ ) [note 2] NL-BQ2 Saba ( BQ ) [note 2] NL-BQ3 Sint Eustatius ( BQ ) [note 2] NL-CW Curaçao ( CW ) NL-SX Sint Maarten ( SX ) |
| NO | Norway | NO-21 Svalbard ( SJ ) [note 3] NO-22 Jan Mayen ( SJ ) [note 3] |
| US | United States | US-AS American Samoa ( AS ) US-GU Guam ( GU ) US-MP Northern Mariana Islands ( MP ) US-PR Puerto Rico ( PR ) US-UM United States Minor Outlying Islands ( UM ) US-VI Virgin Islands, U.S. ( VI ) |
The format of the ISO 3166-2 codes is different for each country. The codes may be alphabetic, numeric, or alphanumeric, and they may also be of constant or variable length. The following is a table of the ISO 3166-2 codes of each country (those with codes defined), grouped by their format: [ citation needed ]
| Number of characters (second part) | Alphabetic | Numeric | Alphanumeric |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AR, BO, FJ, GM, KI, KM, LS, MG, SL, ST, TG, TM, VE First-level subdivisions only: BD, CV, FR, GN, GQ, GR, GW, KN, MH, MW, NZ, UG | AT, GA, IS, NE First-level subdivisions only: LK, NP | |
| 2 | AE, AM, BI, BJ, BN, BQ, BR, BS, BW, BY, CA, CD, CH, CI, CL, CM, CN, DE, DJ, ER, ET, GE, GH, GL, GT, GY, HN, HT, HU, ID, IN, IQ, JO, KW, LA, LB, LR, LT, LU, LY, MC, MD, MU, NA, NG, NI, OM, PK, QA, SB, SD, SH, SK, SN, SO, SR, SS, SV, SY, SZ, TD, TJ, TL, US, UY, UZ, WS, YE, ZW First-level subdivisions only: CZ, RS Second-level subdivisions only: AL, CV, GN, GQ, GW, IT, MW, NP | AD, AG, BB, BG, BH, CU, CY, DK, DM, DO, DZ, EE, FI, GD, HR, IR, JM, JP, KP, KR, LC, LI, ME, MK, MM, MT, MY, NO, NR, PL, PT, RW, SA, SC, SG, SM, TN, TO, TR, TZ, UA, UM, VC, ZM First-level subdivisions only: AL, BF, IT, MA, PH Second-level subdivisions only: BA, BD, KN, LK, RS | BT, MV, VN Second-level subdivisions only: FR, GR |
| 3 | AF, AO, BE, FM, GB, KZ, MX, PE, PG, PS, TT, TV, TW, VU First-level subdivisions only: BA Second-level subdivisions only: BF, MA, MH, NZ, PH | KE, PW, SI Second-level subdivisions only: UG | Second-level subdivisions only: CZ |
| 1 or 2 | CR, EC, ES, IE, IL, KG, RO, SE | KH | PA, TH |
| 1 or 3 | MZ | MN | ML |
| 2 or 3 | AU, AZ, BZ, CF, CO, RU, ZA | LV, MR, NL | |
| 1, 2, or 3 | EG | CG, PY |
The ISO 3166/MA updates ISO 3166-2 when necessary. Changes in ISO 3166-2 consist mostly of spelling corrections, addition and deletion of subdivisions, and modification of the administrative structure.
ISO used to announce changes in newsletters which updated the currently valid standard, and releasing new editions which comprise a consolidation of newsletter changes. As of July 2013, changes are published in the online catalogue of ISO only and no newsletters are published anymore. Past newsletters remain available on the ISO website.
| Edition/Newsletter | Date issued | Affected entries |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 3166-2:1998 | 1998-12-20 | First edition of ISO 3166-2 |
| Newsletter I-1 | 2000-06-21 | BY, CA, DO, ER, ES, IT, KR, NG, PL, RO, RU, TR, VN, YU |
| Newsletter I-2 | 2002-05-21 | AE, AL, AO, AZ, BD, BG, BJ, CA, CD, CN, CV, CZ, ES, FR, GB, GE, GN, GT, HR, ID, IN, IR, KZ, LA, MA, MD, MW, NI, PH, TR, UZ, VN |
| Newsletter I-3 | 2002-08-20 | AE, CZ, IN, KZ, MD, MO, PS (new entry), TP (changed to TL), UG |
| Newsletter I-4 | 2002-12-10 | BI, CA, EC, ES, ET, GE, ID, IN, KG, KH, KP, KZ, LA, MD, MU, RO, SI, TJ, TL, TM, TW, UZ, VE, YE |
| Newsletter I-5 | 2003-09-05 | BW, CH, CZ, LY, MY, SN, TN, TZ, UG, VE, YU (changed to CS) |
| Newsletter I-6 | 2004-03-08 | AF, AL, AU, CN, CO, ID, KP, MA, TN, ZA |
| Newsletter I-7 | 2005-09-13 | AF, DJ, ID, RU, SI, VN |
| Newsletter I-8 | 2007-04-17 | AD, AG, BB, BH, CI, CS (deleted, replaced with ME and RS), DM, GB, GD, GG (new entry), IM (new entry), IR, IT, JE (new entry), KN, LI, ME (new entry), MK, NR, PW, RS (new entry), RU, RW, SB, SC, SM, TD, TO, TV, VC |
| Newsletter I-9 | 2007-11-28 | BG, BL (new entry), CZ, FR, GB, GE, LB, MF (new entry), MK, MT, RU, SD, SG, UG, ZA |
| ISO 3166-2:2007 | 2007-12-13 | Second edition of ISO 3166-2 (these changes were not announced in a newsletter) [3] BA, DK, DO, EG, GN, HT, KE, KW, LC, LR, TV, YE, ZA |
| Newsletter II-1 | 2010-02-03 (corrected 2010-02-19) | AL, BO, CZ, ES, FR, GN, GR, GW, ID, IE, IT, KN, KP, LK, MA, MH, NP, RS, UG, VE |
| Newsletter II-2 | 2010-06-30 | AG, AR, BA, BF, BI, BS, BY, CF, CL, CV, EC, EG, GB, GL, HU, IT, KE, KM, LY, MD, MW, NG, NZ, OM, PA, PE, PH, RU, SC, SH, SI, SN, TD, TM, YE |
| Newsletter II-3 | 2011-12-13 (corrected 2011-12-15) | AF, AN (deleted, replaced with BQ, CW and SX), AW, AZ, BD, BE, BG, BQ (new entry), BS, CV, CW (new entry), DJ, DK, ER, FI, FR, GB, GQ, HN, HR, HT, ID, IE, IN, JO, KW, LS, LV, MC, ME, MK, MM, MV, NL, NO, NP, NR, PG, PK, PL, PS, QA, SA, SD, SE, SH, SS (new entry), SX (new entry), TL, TN, TR, VN |
| ISO 3166-2:2013 | 2013-11-19 | Third edition of ISO 3166-2 (changes are published in the online catalogue of ISO only and no newsletters are published anymore) |
| ISO 3166-2:2020 | 2020-08 | Fourth edition of ISO 3166-2 |
ISO 3166 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, special areas of geographical interest, and their principal subdivisions. The standard employs a code of letters and numbers to represent the name of a given geographical area in order to save time and energy when describing the area, as well as to reduce the risk of description errors. The official name of the standard is Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions.
ISO 3166-2:AU is the entry for Australia in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
ISO 3166-2:NO is the entry for Norway in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
ISO 3166-3 is part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and defines codes for country names which have been deleted from ISO 3166-1 since its first publication in 1974. The official name of the standard is Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 3: Code for formerly used names of countries. It was first published in 1999.
ISO 3166-2:FI is the entry for Finland in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
ISO 3166-1 is a standard defining codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. It is the first part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization.
ISO 3166-2:TL is the entry for East Timor in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
ISO 3166-2:TW is the entry for Taiwan, "Taiwan, Province of China", or "Taiwan ", in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
ISO 3166-2:CN is the entry for China in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
ISO 3166-2:NL is the entry for the Kingdom of the Netherlands in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
ISO 3166-2:MO is the entry for Macao in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
ISO 3166-1 numeric codes are three-digit country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. They are similar to the three-digit country codes developed and maintained by the United Nations Statistics Division, from which they originate in its UN M.49 standard. They were first included as part of the ISO 3166 standard in its second edition in 1981, but they were released by the United Nations Statistics Division since as early as 1970.
ISO 3166-2:RS is the entry for Serbia in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
ISO 3166-2:AN was the entry for the Netherlands Antilles in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
ISO 3166-2:AW is the entry for Aruba in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
ISO 3166-2:BL is the entry for Saint Barthélemy in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
ISO 3166-2:MF is the entry for Saint Martin in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
ISO 3166-2:CW is the entry for Curaçao in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
ISO 3166-2:BQ is the entry for Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
Many of the lists below are based on outdated versions of ISO 3166-2 codes. The latest version may be obtained from the ISO 3166/MA.
